The Bigger Picture
There's too much noise out there anyway.
The new wave is not value added, it's garbage-subtracted.
Esther Dyson
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Prevailing Reality |
Proposed
|
||
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Means to ends: |
Domination | Partnership | |
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Cause of progress: |
Competition | Collaboration | |
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Center of interest: |
Personal | Social | |
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Concept of systems: |
Closed | Open | |
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Dynamic: |
Win / Lose | Play / Play | |
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Roles: |
Victor / Victim | Partner / Ally | |
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Primary goods: |
Capital | Information | |
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Source of leverage: |
Monopoly | Polyopoly | |
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Organization: |
Hierarchy | Flexiarchy | |
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Roles: |
Victor / Victim | Server / Client | |
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Scope of self-interest: |
Self / Nation | Self / World | |
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Source of power: |
Might | Right | |
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Source of value: |
Scarcity | Abundance | |
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Stage of growth: |
Child (selfish) | Adult (social) | |
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Reference valuables: |
Metal, Money | Life, Time | |
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Purpose of boundaries: |
Protection | Limitation |
Doc Searls
The goal isn't win/win,
it's play/play.
Craig Burton
Try the
Prisoner's Dilemma
for a 'game' exploring win/lose and play/play
strategies!
Consider:
When the Exxon Valdez spilled its load of oil into the Gulf of
Alaska - a dark moment in recent American history - America's GDP
went
up. (A lot of money was spent on the cleanup, media coverage,
ecological testing, legal fees, etc.).
When the Gulf War broke out, America's GDP went
upagain. Money changed hands. The country became
"healthier".
Indeed, every time there's a car accident or a newly diagnosed
cancer patient, whenever personal or societal catastrophes occur, the GDP
goes up and the economy "gains".
Consider:
Walking, biking and mass transit contribute less to the GDP than
using an automobile.
Trains contribute less than airplanes;
an extra blanket or sweater less than raising the thermostat;
one-child families less than six-child families;
eating legumes less than eating beef;
starting a vegetable garden less then buying at the supermarket;
staying home to raise your daughter less than getting a part-time
job at Wendy's.
Kalle Lasn
in "Adbusters" , Summer 1997
Imagine our ending this century
*without the intellectual courage or capacity to question a
depeopled economics.
Imagine a public morality that places the economy as a trancendent
entity above the human inhabitants of nations and the international
community.
There is an urgent need to reconstitute the orientation of the
Social Sciences.
There is a public need for moral courage, for rage, agitation,
organisation and struggle in favour of the humanistic project.
Michael D. Higgins
*Speaking in the mid-1990s
